Huntsville Post Office meeting

Wednesday

Mar 27, 2013 at 1:00 PM

Huntsville residents passionate about their community...

Connie Duvall

There was a great turnout Tuesday afternoon at the Huntsville Community Center of concerned residents that are passionate about their community. Community Center to discuss the U.S. Post Office located in downtown Huntsville. Although many residents attending the meeting felt it was just a formality as "their minds were already made up".Manager of Post Office Operations Cindy Bolles led the discussion. A resident of the small town of Higbee since 1978, Bolles has 30 years of service with the U.S. Post Office. Forty-two post offices report to her and it has been part of her "job" to lead meeting like the one in Huntsville. She talked about the historical challenges of the U.S. Postal Service and what changes would be seen at the Huntsville Post Office. She stated that making practical business decisions across the country would result in the savings of one-half billion dollars annually. What will change at the Huntsville Post Office? Window service will decrease 30 minutes per day, Monday through Friday. The meeting was not set to announce the closing of the Huntsville Post Office, but to find which six hours per day, Monday through Friday, local residents would prefer it be open. It will remain open their regular hours on Saturday and the 24-hour lobby service will remain as well. She added that only 275 people responded to the survey sent out to local residents. Several residents spoke up and said their "choice" was not listed on the survey.Representative Tim Remole was among those asking questions Tuesday afternoon. "Did they take it into consideration this is the county seat?" asked Remole."No." Bolles stated what determines the number of hours a post office is open is simply two things – revenue and delivered volume.County Clerk Will Ellis stated that the money spent has increased, but Bolles said the Huntsville mail volume has decreased. Bolles tried to explain how volume and revenue is determined for each post office. Besides Randolph County Commissioners, several representatives from the Randolph County Court House, located just across the street from the post office were in attendance. The local post office is well used by offices within the courthouse and the importance of later hours was mention during election time. Bolles also explained that Huntsville will not have a "full-time" postmaster, but the part-time individual will have full benefits. Besides reducing hours in U.S. Post Offices around the country there are a number of other cost saving avenues being considered."I may be talking myself out of a job," says Bolles, "but I want the Postal Service to sustain."Another discussion included the Clifton Hill post office, which is also in Randolph County, but will be under the umbrella of the Salisbury post office. Does that make sense when Salisbury is in a neighboring county? For Huntsville residents, it is not (totally) about the 30-minute reduction of time, but the feeling that this step is just the beginning of a greater loss in the future.Former Moberly Postmaster and Huntsville resident Richard Skaggs stood at the front of the room and invited people to stay after Bolles ended her visit. One of the things Skaggs addressed was how local residents can make their feeling known. Bolles told the group they could not go to the headquarters at Washington D.C., but Skaggs did give residents ways to contact Missouri representatives and senators with their wishes. "Congress does make the rules the post office must abide by," says Skaggs, "so that is why it is important to contact your officials."